Defenders of Peace v Courageous Challengers

The 2025 outdoor season kicked off on this year with the finalists of the previous season locking horns once again to set the tone. The first official match of the new Hundred Ball format was played at the Alexandra Park venue on a lovely, warm afternoon in London. With the International Masroor tournament also looming, the players knew that their was more at stake besides the usual intensity of the KCL competition as we have seen throughout the years.

The current champions, DOP won the toss and elected to bat first, and although the start wasn’t ideal with Aamir not being able to get going, they still managed to get into terms with the track quickly as Hafiz Zafarullah displayed some good form with the bat building a steady partnership with Saqib. The score was truly accelerated with the veteran Irfan Ahmed at the crease whose blistering 46 off 23 balls made life very difficult for the CC bowlers. A brief contribution by Hamza Iqbal also helped the Defenders to reach a good total of 133 by the end of their hundred ball allotment. Rizwan Baloch was the pick of the CC bowlers with figures of 3-13 in his 20 deliveries bowled.

The response by the CC batters was highly underwhelming, with the first 5 wickets back in the hut with the score at 28-5 in 26 balls! The opening burst by Hamza (4-26) and Adil seemed too hot to handle for the batters who were left reeling. Some resistance by Athar, Zeyan and Naufil, and a reasonable not out contribution by Talha helped the CC reach a total of above 100. However, the clear victors of the opening fixture of the season were eventually 26 runs clear of their counterparts. A great win for the DOP in their opening match of the 2025 season!